Kadafi Says He Won’t Turn Over Bomb Suspects

Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi ridiculed charges that Libya carried out the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 and said in an interview Thursday that he will not surrender two Libyans accused of the attack.

“The evidence against Libya is less than a laughable piece of a fingernail,” Kadafi said in an interview with the Italian-owned television network Telemontecarlo.

“They affirm that they have decisive evidence against Libya. . . . This is disinformation and deceit of public opinion. We are asking that these investigations not be closed, and we challenge them to produce evidence against Libya,” he said.

The United States and Britain demanded Wednesday that Libya turn over two intelligence agents--Abdel Basset Ali Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah--who have been indicted in the December, 1988, bombing that killed 270 people.

Britain and the United States were joined by France, which has charged four Libyans in connection with the 1989 bombing of a French jetliner, in demanding that Libya commit itself to stop all terrorist actions.

Libya has repeatedly denied any involvement in the destruction of Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, or in the bombing of the French UTA Flight 772 that killed 170 people over Niger.

“Libyan law, like the law of any other country, does not permit the delivery to American, English and French authorities of Libyan citizens suspected of carrying out the Lockerbie bombing,” Kadafi said in the interview.

“There are no extradition treaties between us and the United States and Britain since our relations have been broken with these two states,” he said.

Britain and the United States also demanded that Libya compensate families of victims of Flight 103 and disclose all it knows about the attack, including the names of those responsible.

The U.S.-British statement Wednesday did not mention specific sanctions if Libya rejects the demands or specify a deadline for compliance.

Possible sanctions include cutting air links with Libya and declaring an international oil embargo, although officials acknowledge it would be difficult to get U.N. approval for an embargo.